Samara LynnEnGenius EWS320AP Neutron Series Dual-Band Wireless N900 Managed Indoor Access PointIf you need a basic access point for your small business, the EWS320AP Neutron Series Dual-Band Wireless N900 Managed Indoor Access Point from EnGenius is an excellent choice, and a fast performer. If you need more advanced features, however, look elsewhere.

If you need a basic access point for your small business, the EWS320AP Neutron Series Dual-Band Wireless N900 Managed Indoor Access Point from EnGenius is an excellent choice, and a fast performer. If you need more advanced features, however, look elsewhere.

Access Points (APs) are vital in adding wireless access to a business' existing wired network. The wireless routers we use in our homes do the same thing, but on a much smaller scale. APs such as the EWS320AP Neutron Series Dual-Band Wireless N900 Managed Indoor Access Point ($499.99) are also different, however, in that they offer wireless networks business-class features and security, and because multiple APs can be managed from one controller for centralized IT administration. The EWS320AP was speedy in my testing, but it does not deliver as many enterprise features as other access points I've tested. Still, it's an excellent, no-frills addition to a business network.

SpecsThe EWS320AP is a square, ceiling-mountable AP. It ships with a T-Rail mounting kit, a mount and screw kit, and a mounting bracket. There's also a 12-volt power adapter, an RJ-45 cable, and an installation guide in the package. You should have little trouble finding a place to mount this AP, because it's fairly compact. It measures 1.64 by 6.5 by 6.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 12.8 ounces. On the housing are colorful LEDS for power, Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) activity, each wireless band, and the network. There's also a pinhole reset button on the top cover.

The EWS320AP supports up to 450Mbps at both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands; those two speeds added together is why there's a "900" in the AP's name. You won't see those speeds in an office environment, however; particularly with multiple devices connected at the crowded 2.4GHz frequency. Still, the EWS320AP is plenty fast, as I'll show.

Setup and Management InterfaceTo set up the EWS320AP, I configured a laptop's network adapter with the same subnet as the APs, then connected the RJ-45 cable from the laptop's network port to the Ethernet port on the AP. Finally, I pointed a browser to the default IP address of the AP and accessed the management interface.

The management interface is bare-bones, with no graphics of any kind, just text and drop-down menus for settings. The first setting you'll want to configure is the AP's operation mode. You have three choices here. You can set it up as an access point that creates a WLAN from an existing network. This is the most common way APs are used. You can also set it for WDS AP mode, allowing administrators to use the AP as part of a Wireless Distribution System to maximize wireless coverage with multiple APs. Or you can put it in WDS Bridge mode, which sets the AP to connect two LANs (as long as the networks are not too far apart).

To handle multiple EnGenius APs for the WDS modes, the EWS320AP and other APs from the company are designed to work with the EnGenius EWS7928P PoE+ Wireless Management Switch, which I'll cover in a separate review.

For this review, I tested the commonly used WLAN access point operating mode, enabling both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Note that the EWS320AP does not offer 802.11ac connectivity; your choices here are 802.11a, b, g, and n. It still delivers good performance, but if you want a more future-proof network (or just have to have the lastest and greatest) EnGenius has you covered with the EnGenius EAP1750H 802.11ac 3x3 Dual Band Ceiling-Mount Wireless Access Point/WDS, which does offers 802.11ac connectivity—and, at the time of this writing, its list price is $100 less.

The EnGenius offers a good mix of enterprise encryption options, including 802.1x RADIUS and WPA/WPA2 Enterprise. It has many of the capabilities I've seen in other small-business APs, including client isolation, for example. When enabled, this setting prevents clients that are connected to the AP from communicating with one another, for both security and performance reasons. Another common AP feature I found in this AP is the ability to limit the number of clients that can connect, again to optimize security and traffic flow.

EnGenius also has the ability to run a wireless scan for all other neighboring access points. This scan provides useful channel information, as well as other insight into the APs in proximity. For example, you can use the results to maximize wireless performance by setting the EWS320AP to channels that aren't so crowded.

As I clicked though the interface, I saw other capabilities that I like to see in APs, including VLAN support (needed for logically segmenting your wireless network for groups of users), support for SNMP, VPN pass-through, QoS, and MAC address filtering.

One UI inconvenience, however, is that you can't search for firmware updates through the AP's management interface. You have to go to EnGenius' website, download the file, go back into the AP's interface, and then upload the file. This is a very outdated way of doing a software update; even consumer routers generally handle firmware updates in a more sophisticated, automated manner.

With other abilities such as guest networking and support for up to eight SSIDs, the EWS320AP should satisfy the wireless networking needs of most small businesses. EnGenius' device is not as rich with enterprise-class feature as other APs I've tested—Meraki's MR16 Cloud Managed Wireless Access Point is one example. With features such as real-time wireless intrusion protection and an integrated policy-based firewall, a solution such as Meraki's is better for businesses with mission-critical wireless performance and security needs.

PerformanceThe EWS320AP's speed shows how the 802.11n standard has matured since my last AP review. I used Ixia's IxChariot to test the throughput of the EnGenius AP at various distances with a laptop connected to its 5GHz band.

When I tested at 15 feet from the AP, I got an average throughput reading of 148Mbps. I moved another 15 feet away and throughput dropped, but to a still quite-respectable 126Mbps. Before testing this AP, the fastest performance I'd seen from a comparable AP was from the Netgear ProSafe 802.11n Dual-Band Wireless Access Point WNDAP350, which averaged 88Mbps at a distance of 15 feet. Clearly the up-to-date hardware in the EWS320AP gives it a decent performance boost.

Robust, Small-Business APThe EWS320AP Neutron Series Dual-Band Wireless N600 Managed Indoor Access Point is excellent for the type of AP it's intended to be—a basic access point with a basic feature set and robust performance. Is it for enterprises or complex wireless deployments? No. Look to solutions from Meraki, Cisco, and Aruba for those requirements. However, for a small business that needs nothing more from a wireless network than the basics, the EWS320AP is an excellent choice. Our Editors' Choice for access points is the Meraki MR16 Cloud Managed Wireless Access Point, thanks to its abundance of business features.

Bottom Line: If you need a basic access point for your small business, the EWS320AP Neutron Series Dual-Band Wireless N900 Managed Indoor Access Point from EnGenius is an excellent choice, and a fast performer. If you need more advanced features, however, look elsewhere.

About the Author

Samara Lynn has nearly twenty years experience in Information Technology; most recently as IT Director at a major New York City healthcare facility. She has a Bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College, several technology certifications, and she was a tech editor for the CRN Test Center.
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